In 2020, Pope Francis addressed several important issues for Mexico in an interview with journalist Valentina Alazraki, broadcast on Televisa. Among them, he mentioned drug trafficking, femicides, migration, and abuses committed by members of the Church.
During the conversation, the pontiff also shared his perspective on the violence affecting the country and its relationship to Mexico’s spirituality and religious history.
According to the Pope, the country faces unique challenges that, in his opinion, could be linked to a special “anger” from the devil toward the country.
The Pope recalled previous statements in which he noted that Mexico has historically been punished by the devil due to the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
In his words, this Marian manifestation, which is a central symbol of the Catholic faith in the country, would have provoked an adverse reaction from evil. “I think the devil is punishing Mexico with great anger for this. I think the devil hasn’t forgiven Mexico for having shown his son there,” affirmed the leader of the Catholic Church.
According to him, the Virgin of Guadalupe is closely linked to Mexico’s spiritual and cultural identity. Even those who are not Catholic or who identify as atheists in the country often feel connected to the figure of the Virgin. “They feel like children of the one who brought the savior, destroyed the devil,” he noted.
In this context, the pontiff suggested that this special connection with the Virgin could be one of the reasons why Mexico has faced episodes of violence and serious conflicts throughout its history.
In that interview, the Pope also reflected on the religious persecutions that have occurred in Mexico, noting that these have not occurred with the same intensity in other Latin American countries.
“There’s a special… this isn’t theology, I speak as a man of the people: as if the devil had a grudge against Mexico. Because if not, so many things can’t be explained,” he commented.
“On the other hand, Mexico is a country of everything; it’s a border in the sense that it’s a gateway from Latin America to North America, right? That also has a lot of influence, right,” he added.
During the interview, Pope Francis addressed the problem of drug trafficking in Mexico, an issue that has generated concern both nationally and internationally.
According to the pontiff, the fight against this phenomenon cannot fall solely on the government, since blaming only one sector would be a “childish” vision. In his opinion, all actors in society must assume their share of responsibility in addressing this crisis.
“I know it’s difficult to denounce a drug trafficker because your life is at stake, it’s hard, but I believe that all of us in situations like this, whether in Mexico or not, have to shoulder the burden,” the Pope affirmed.
He also emphasized that solidarity is one of the greatest virtues of the Mexican people, although he lamented that in some cases the suffering of the victims fails to move all sectors of society. “There are people who are doing well, and perhaps the death of these children didn’t affect them; they just slipped by it, saying, ‘Well, it didn’t happen to me, thank God it didn’t happen to me,'” he expressed.
Source: infobae
